On Media

Rendell: Philly Inquirer deal announced today

The sale of the Philadelphia Media Network -- including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com -- will be announced at a press conference today at 11:30 a.m.

"The deal is done," former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who was an early partner in the investment group, told me. "The group is basically the same blue cats: [George] Norcross, [Lewis] Katz, Krishna Singh, Gerry Lenfest. They all are very wealthy individuals, but they all are great philanthropists. They've given a lot of money to great causes, and they're doing this because they want to keep the papers in local control, keep them alive."

Katz, a Philadelphia-based philanthropist, and Norcross, an insurance executive and major Democratic fundraiser in southern New Jersey, will serve as managing partners of the new parent company Interstate General Media L.L.C. The group also includes William Hankowsky and Joseph Buckelew.

"These guys, they're good business people, and they understand there are hundreds of ways to invest their money," Rendell continued. "But they did it because they want to keep these papers local."

The investors are paying $55 million for the Network, with an additional $10 million in working capital for operations. Rendell, who was formerly part of the investment group, stepped down following criticism that his political connections would influence the paper's coverage. At today's conference, the investor group will take a pledge not to interefere with the editorial decisions of the paper, an important move given Norcross's influence in Democratic political circles in New Jersey.

Rendell said that though he will continue to "whisper ideas in their ear," he will have no formal role in the ownership group, and never intended to.

"I was asked to find an investor group of locals, and I was offered a finders fee that I turned down," he said. "I would have been given 3 percent -- that's 1.8 million dollars."

"My son is mad at me," he added, "but that's because it's his inheritance."